Harvest tracks hours but doesn't model matters, doesn't handle multi-rate billing well, and doesn't do utilization reports the way a law firm needs them. Tempough has all three built into the project model.
Small law firms have time-tracking needs that legal-specific PMS tools (Clio, MyCase) over-solve and generic time trackers (Harvest, Toggl) under-solve. The firm-level workflow is: track time per matter at the responsible-attorney rate, route LEDES-friendly invoices through the partner who originated the matter, and run quarterly utilization reports per attorney for partnership-distributable math. Tempough doesn't replace your conflict-checking or trust-accounting tool (use Clio or LeanLaw for IOLTA + retainer reconciliation, then export billable time from Tempough into them). It does replace the generic time-tracker layer at half the price of legal-vertical SaaS, with multi-rate billing per attorney per matter, cost rates for true effective-hourly-rate math, and utilization reports that drive partner-comp conversations. The combination — Tempough for timekeeping, Clio/LeanLaw for compliance — is typically half the cost of a full legal PMS subscription and leaves the firm with cleaner ad-hoc reporting.
Not a generic critique — the specific places law firms typically run into the wall.
A law firm wants client → matter → phase as the structural hierarchy. Harvest is flat: client → project. Workarounds (project name = "Smith / Drafting / Phase 2") get unwieldy with hundreds of matters. Tempough's phases are first-class, so the structure of legal work matches the structure of how time is tracked.
Harvest can show hours per person, but there's no concept of "1,800 billable hours/year target" or per-attorney variance against target. Tempough's Utilization report includes configurable targets and variance reporting — the actual KPI most law firms manage to.
A matter with partner + associate + paralegal all logging time at different rates is a common case. Harvest handles it but the rate hierarchy is shallow. Tempough's per-member + per-phase rate model resolves automatically without per-entry rate overrides.
A law firm forecasts its annual SaaS spend at the partner meeting. Harvest's new usage-based pricing layer means that number is moving. Tempough is flat per-seat with no usage component — predictable for budget planning.
The same surface, audience-tailored to what law firms actually need.
Discovery, drafting, negotiation, closing — each phase with its own dates, hours budget, status. Closes the gap between how legal work is structured and how time gets tracked.
Set target 1,800 billable hours/year for associates, 1,200 for of-counsel, etc. Report shows actual vs. target with variance. The partnership-distributable conversation gets data-driven.
Rate hierarchy: project default → phase override → per-member override. Same attorney can bill different rates on different matters or different phases of the same matter. Audit log records which rate applied when.
Flat-fee matters bill at fixed amounts but you still track internal hours × cost rate to see actual margin. Tells you whether your fixed-fee pricing was profitable so you can recalibrate next time.
Team gives you the matter + phase + utilization + approvals + cost rates surface. Team Pro adds team groupings (practice area splits) + branded invoices + webhooks/API for any custom legal-specific reporting. Firms over 5 attorneys typically want Team Pro for the practice-area dimension.
Why teams leave Harvest, audience-agnostic.
Audience-specific tour of the feature surface.
Step-by-step walkthrough — most teams finish in under an hour.
Two-week trial. No credit card. Full feature set.